Peter Snape

Peter Charles Snape was born in Stockport, Cheshire, on 12 February 1942, the only child of Kathleen (nee Critchley), a former laundry worker, and Thomas Snape, a railway carriage and wagon examiner. His father was away on wartime service when he was born and first met his son on returning from the Second World War, bringing him a train set.

Following his mother's Catholic faith, he attended Roman Catholic primary schools in Stockport and St Bede's College, Manchester, and then Dialstone secondary school in Bramhall. He left school at 15 to follow his father onto the railways, training as a signalman and living in lodgings beside his signal box, Edgeley No 2, south of Stockport. When he was not given charge of the box after four years he resigned and joined the army.

Snape served with the Royal Engineers and the Royal Corps of Transport from 1961 to 1967, then returned to the railways as a goods guard and later in a clerical post. He was an active member of the National Union of Railwaymen and of the Labour Party, and in 1971 he was elected to Bredbury and Romiley urban district council, which he went on to lead until 1974.

Sponsored by the NUR, he was selected for the newly created seat of West Bromwich East and won it at the February 1974 general election, increasing his majority that October. In his maiden speech he described his constituents as a special brand of people, forthright and honest. He was a member of the Council of Europe and the Western European Union in 1975 before joining the whips' office, serving as a government whip from 1977 to 1979 under James Callaghan. In opposition he was a junior defence spokesman from 1979 to 1982 and a home affairs spokesman, and Neil Kinnock then made him a transport spokesman, a post he held from 1983 to 1992. He stood unsuccessfully for chief whip in 1983, 1985 and 1990 and for deputy chief whip in 1988. In 2000 he formally proposed Michael Martin as Speaker of the House of Commons.

Snape stood down at the 2001 general election and was created a life peer as Baron Snape, of Wednesbury in the County of West Midlands, on 9 June 2004. He took an active part in debates in the House of Lords, particularly on transport, and in 2015 became vice chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Speedway Racing.

In 2009 The Sunday Times alleged that he was one of four Labour peers willing to help amend legislation in return for payment. A Lords sub-committee initially criticised him, but the Privileges Committee concluded that he had not expressed a clear willingness to act for a financial inducement, while inviting him to apologise for an inappropriate attitude to the rules. The newspaper agreed to publish the findings and paid a substantial sum towards his legal costs. He also faced criticism over a profit of around 70,000 pounds on a share option acquired as an unpaid non-executive director of Travel West Midlands.

Snape married Winifred Grimshaw in 1963; they had two daughters, Angela and Katie, and divorced in 1980. In 2004 he married Janet Manley, a schoolteacher, who died in 2024. On 30 March 2026 he married his partner of about 20 years, Lynda Waltho, the former Labour MP for Stourbridge.

A lifelong supporter of Stockport County, he served on the club's board from 2010 to 2013 and had earlier been a director and shareholder. He was a celebrated raconteur. During the 1992 general election campaign Edwina Currie poured a glass of orange juice over him after an edition of the Midlands debate show Central Weekend, later saying she had known how to shut him up. He was made an Honorary Freeman of Sandwell in 2009.

Lord Snape died on 13 August 2026, at the age of 84. He died of cancer. His death was announced on 14 August. Sarah Coombes, the MP for West Bromwich East, said he was still very well loved in the area and that she had heard many constituents call him the best MP they ever had. Sandwell Council's leader Ray Nock described him as a hard working MP dedicated to his constituents, and the Labour group leader Paul Moore called him a passionate advocate for the communities he served. Andy Burnham called him a proud son of Stockport and a good friend.

He was survived by his wife Lynda Waltho and his two daughters. His barony became extinct on his death.

Snape is remembered as one of the last Labour MPs to come into Parliament directly from manual work on the railways, someone who brought lived experience of industrial Britain to Westminster. Obituarists described him as clever, funny and as sharp as a tack, a skilled whip and a combative transport spokesman who never lost touch with West Bromwich. Sandwell Council said his contribution to public life would be long remembered.